First Commonwealth Financial Co. (NYSE:FCF) Short Interest Update

First Commonwealth Financial Co. (NYSE:FCF) was the recipient of a significant decrease in short interest in November. As of November 15th, there was short interest totalling 967,200 shares, a decrease of 6.1% from the October 31st total of 1,030,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 513,600 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.9 days.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Michael P. Mccuen purchased 2,919 shares of First Commonwealth Financial stock in a transaction on Monday, September 23rd. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $16.99 per share, for a total transaction of $49,593.81. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 57,623 shares in the company, valued at approximately $979,014.77. This represents a 5.34 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 1.97% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On First Commonwealth Financial

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. CWM LLC lifted its holdings in shares of First Commonwealth Financial by 451.1% during the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,995 shares of the bank’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 1,633 shares in the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in First Commonwealth Financial by 2,572.6% in the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,657 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 1,595 shares during the period. Quest Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of First Commonwealth Financial during the second quarter worth approximately $34,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new stake in shares of First Commonwealth Financial during the 3rd quarter valued at $46,000. Finally, Innealta Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of First Commonwealth Financial during the 2nd quarter valued at $51,000. Institutional investors own 72.58% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on FCF. Piper Sandler lowered their price objective on shares of First Commonwealth Financial from $17.00 to $16.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 31st. StockNews.com raised shares of First Commonwealth Financial from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, First Commonwealth Financial has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $17.30.

First Commonwealth Financial Stock Performance

Shares of FCF stock traded down $0.13 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $18.70. 418,063 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 516,228. First Commonwealth Financial has a twelve month low of $12.41 and a twelve month high of $19.96. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $17.57 and its 200-day moving average price is $16.12. The company has a quick ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.90 billion, a PE ratio of 12.63 and a beta of 0.86.

First Commonwealth Financial (NYSE:FCF) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The bank reported $0.31 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.36 by ($0.05). The company had revenue of $121.21 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $119.47 million. First Commonwealth Financial had a net margin of 21.87% and a return on equity of 11.19%. First Commonwealth Financial’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.39 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that First Commonwealth Financial will post 1.4 EPS for the current year.

First Commonwealth Financial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 22nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 8th were given a $0.13 dividend. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.78%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 8th. First Commonwealth Financial’s payout ratio is 35.14%.

About First Commonwealth Financial

First Commonwealth Financial Corporation, a financial holding company, provides various consumer and commercial banking services in the United States. Its consumer services include personal checking accounts, interest-earning checking accounts, savings and health savings accounts, insured money market accounts, debit cards, investment certificates, fixed and variable rate certificates of deposit, mortgage loans, secured and unsecured installment loans, construction and real estate loans, safe deposit facilities, credit cards, credit lines with overdraft checking protection, IRA accounts, and automated teller machine (atm) services, as well as internet, mobile, and telephone banking services.